“Back with the living, I see,” the woman said.

I nodded as I remembered her name was Lauretti. There was no fogginess in my head. I was simply awake.

I glanced at my hand as I sat up and saw my fingers were all taped together and bandages where the lacerations were. It didn’t hurt nearly as much when I lifted it to examine everything more closely.

“I think I’ve gotten those cactus thorns and such out of you as well,” she said. “Alexis is doing well and is in the chamber to heal. We’ll get you going in a little bit. John’s called your parents, and they’re sheltering at a safe house in Austin until we get better eyes on the situation. A drone’s in the air, but your attackers seem to be gone.”

“Who are they—no, wait. Who are you?”

“I’m Lauretti. A cousin of yours. We have met, but you were about three the last time, so I doubt you remember me.”

She looked about thirty, so she would’ve been twelve?

“Why has it been so long?”

She smiled. “I’ve been away, helping with the family business.”

“Which is?” My parents have decent professions with Dell and UT, but nothing that would afford a thousand-plus acre ranch like this. Uncle John simply claimed he was independently wealthy, but was away more than he was here.

“Not yet, but that will be discussed in your presence before too long.”

“Because of what happened today?”

“Yes.” She had some sort of accent, but I couldn’t place it.

“And that was?”

She laughed. “The short answer for now. Our family has enemies. They’ve recently begun attacks on us in various places. We thought this location was secret. Obviously, it no longer is.”

“You said they were trying to take us alive. Why?”

She nodded, serious again. “Ransom, most likely. Might be other things involved, but that’s the Occam’s Razor answer.”

“Simplest.”

“Yes,” she replied, approval in her eyes. “Now, it seems like John’s been a bit lax with some of your training. Let’s go to the gym and see what you’ve got.”

“Um…okay,” and I lifted the sheet to get up, then froze. “Wait. Where are my clothes?”

“They were torn and bloody. I cut them off you so I could examine you better. Let’s get to the gym.”

“Let me get some shorts on—”

“No. You’re coming like that.”

“And if I don’t?”

She slammed the heel of her hand into my shoulder, knocking me flat on the bed. “Then I’ll grab you by an ankle and drag your ass there.”

That’s unlikely. I’m second dan black belt in Taekwondo, red belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and just got brown in Krav Maga. Still, something in her eyes made me bite my tongue. Instead, I nodded, wondering why this woman would want me naked for whatever was going to happen. What training was I lax in? I was a good shot with pistols and long arms, and had fencing trophies from competing with Épée.

I led the way to the gym, racquetball courts on one side, and the indoor pool on the other. It felt like she was x-raying my back and butt, and I had to fight the urge to cover up with my hands when I turned around.

“So now what—” and I swept my good hand down, blocking while trying to sidestep her back kick. I was partially successful, getting only the ball of her foot in my stomach and not the heel, then threw an upper block as her foot snapped toward my face.

She’s got one leg in the air, and I’m already crouching forward? Not good form on her part. I charged forward, inside her attack, reaching for a takedown. She sidestepped it somehow, a slap on my back. I sprawled hard on the wood floor, braking with my bandaged hand. The pain screamed, but I knew she wasn’t done.

I flipped to my feet, barely managing to jump her leg sweep. I drove myself at her again, leading with a punch to her face. I grazed her cheek with my knuckles. I missed the elbow strike to her chest, launching my body sideways at her, my butt hitting her somewhere as we fell while my elbow landed on her hand. Bones crunched.

Something hit near my balls, and I rolled away before she could get a good shot there. Pain blossomed in my side. She bit me, something in my mind roared. I continued my roll and came up in a three-point crouch.

She assumed a similar crouch, smiling and licking her lips as she held her broken hand off to her side. A warm moistness ran down my side.

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“Better than I expected,” she said, standing up, never taking her eyes off me.

I wanted to take her down, my body tensing to do it, but I stopped and stood instead. She was setting me up, and she realized that I knew it from her smile.

“Excellent. Thought you were going to fall for it.”

“You needed me naked for this?”

“I needed to see how you reacted as vulnerable as I could make you. Hurt and naked is a good combination for that. John said he didn’t think you’d ever experienced it, so this was a good time.”

“Good time?”

“You were already hurt, worried about your sister, wondering how your world was changing, and you didn’t know who the fuck this crazy woman was, and now you’re having to fight her naked. Yep, it was a good time for it. Let’s go swim.”

“Water combat?”

“Not unless you really want to.” She pulled her t-shirt off with her good hand. No bra. Small breasts and a taut body. I stared as she dropped her shorts and pulled off her panties.

“You’ve seen a naked woman before, haven’t you?”

“Not recently.” Not since spring when my girlfriend dumped me. Allie’s nude sunbathing didn’t count. In any case, it was the faint white scars on Layretti’s body that interested me more than her nakedness.

“Oh. You gain these with the years.” She ran a finger along a long scar across her ribs. “Got under my guard, but that left his neck open. He was the last opponent, so it was a worthwhile trade. I could lick my wounds afterward, figuratively, of course.”

I nodded. “What about your hand?”

“Hurts like hell, but you understand that way too well. I mainly want to get wet. It was a long trip here, and your little shindig kept me from getting a shower.” She turned and ran to the pool’s deep end, executing a shallow dive while keeping her hands at her side, then propelled herself with a side-to-side movement.

I stared a moment, then jogged over and jumped in, keeping my hurt hand up. Everything would get wet, but it didn’t need the impact. I side-stroked to where she stood, neck-deep in the water. It was chest-level on me, which made me wonder if this would give me more advantage against her if we were to spar again. The answer was probably yes, but still probably not enough.

She looked at the water, and following her gaze, I saw a slight red haze drift from where she’d bitten me.

“Sorry about the bite, Kevin, but you need to fight dirty. Anything you can use may make the difference.”

I nodded. I’d been told that, but it didn’t work well in most of my martial arts. Follow the rules, though at least Krav Maga had fewer rules. Fencing in the round had fewer rules than on the strip. “Yeah. Everything I’ve learned so far, except maybe the Krav Maga, was to follow the rules.”

“You seemed to mix your offenses and defenses between your different trainings. I was glad to see that, at least. You have a good start to work with.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I did break your hand, you know.”

She gave me an amused look. “How much of that was training, and how much was luck?”

“Probably fifty-fifty. I was trying to get that elbow somewhere,” I said and laughed.

“You did manage that. The cool water is helping, though it’s starting to throb. Once Alexis is healed, you’re next in the chamber, then me. Robes are in the shower room?”

I nodded, thinking about the chamber. Dad called it a hyperbaric chamber on steroids, but it did a lot more than just feed you extra oxygen. Cutting-edge prototype, he also said, but that was a dozen years ago, and I’d still never heard of it anywhere but here. One of those things I don’t talk about away from home. I’ve never had a friend over here, unlike when we were living in Austin. “What do I do with this?” I held up my bandaged hand.

“Just leave it like that, she replied. “You’ll probably be in there before it dries. I added some upgrades to the chamber when I got here. I’m getting out.”

I watched her as she got out. More fine scars there, and not an ounce of fat. All muscle, but not the showy type. What a world-class triathlete might look like.

She turned and smiled when she got to the shower-room door. “Like what you see?”

I hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“Smart man.”

* * *

Allie and I were up on the observation deck watching Uncle John monitor a set of drones when Lauretti came up, flexing her hand and smiling. I knew the feeling. Only fifteen minutes in the chamber, and my hand was as good as new. Allie took a couple of hours.

“All clear?”

“Seems to be,” he replied as he turned to her. “Nothing from IR to UV that shouldn’t be there.”

A beep made him turn back.

“Spoke too soon. Got choppers coming in NOE. This world, it looks like. At least two.”

“I’m sure there’s more.”

“Probably. I’d guess five if I was doing this.”

“We need to—”

“Baemardis, like you suggested, but OJT now instead of the planned briefings. I’m confirming four now. They may be going for overkill. Get them gone, but I need you here.”

“Kevin. Alexis. Time to leave. Follow me.” She barked orders in a way I felt I couldn’t disobey. Allie acted the same. We ran down the stairs behind Lauretti, then another set down to the utility area. Diesel and gasoline storage, backup generator, and, Lauretti opened the High Voltage door. This was always locked, but now it wasn’t. Why?

The room was dimly lit, with a control panel opposite that Lauretti was already moving toward. Backpacks to our left and a raised walkway that went through three large white rings and ended in the wall.

“Belts and backpacks on the wall. Alexis, yours has the pink tag, Kevin, yours is orange. Get belt and backpack on.” She said all this while focusing on whatever equipment she was fooling with. “Now.”

That stopped the question my mind was forming, so I pulled the belt loose and found it had a scabbarded rapier hanging from it. A long dagger, suitable as a main gauche, hung from the belt as well. Allie had the same as I belted mine on, though her guard was slightly different.

I lifted the backpack from its hook. Nylon, but looked more like canvas. Maybe forty pounds. Manageable, but where were we going. If helicopters were coming in, bugging out on foot wasn’t that great an idea.

A hum sounded, and the three rings began to turn in different directions; inner and outer turned clockwise, the middle moving in the opposite direction. Their colors changed as they picked up speed.

Lauretti turned from the control panel. “Baemardis. You two are going to Baemardis.” She stepped closer. “John and I must take care of several other things first, but we’ll meet you there…sometime. Who knows…we might even beat you there, though I hope not. That really wouldn’t be good.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder and the other on Allie. “Things will be different, but you’ve had some training for it. Respect everyone, but trust nobody. Follow the setting sun to get there.”

Allie and I looked at each other as Lauretti nodded and turned us toward the now-glowing spinning rings. “Step through. You will not hit the back wall. If you do, we’re all screwed.”

I nodded, not understanding. Now I also hoped that we weren’t screwed, stepped up the couple of steps, and forward through the rings toward the concrete wall. The light from a rising or setting sun struck my eyes.

I was outside.